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April 26, 2004
Publications
New book explores issues facing academic libraries
Wei Wei, computer science librarian at UCSC's Science & Engineering
Library, is the editor of a new book, Scholarly Communication in
Science and Engineering Research.
The book discusses recent technological innovations that can meet the
needs of researchers who need to stay on the cutting edge of science
and technology and of scholars who must be published and peer-reviewed
in order to achieve tenure and promotion. In several chapters, experts
in the academic community propose cost-effective alternatives to commercial
publications in the face of increased journal prices and reduced budgets.
The book also examines the latest developments in information retrieval
that will effectively cut time and costs for academic researchers in
the library.
Much of the book focuses on the need for the academic community to
accept new economical methods of producing and making available publications
such as peer reviews, research papers, letters, technical and experiment
reports, preprints, and conference papers. The book also emphasizes
that scientists and engineers--whether graduate students or professionals--must
have access to the latest relevant research in their fields and rely
on libraries to provide it. Several chapters examine the problem areas
of information technology that need to be fixed, such as bottlenecks
in the flow of information, difficulties using information-retrieval
systems, and the challenges with archiving electronic journals.
Wei said the book will be helpful for librarians, science and engineering
faculty and students, researchers, and publishers.
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